


Freedom's Worth

by Nudebeme



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Explicit Language, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Physical Abuse, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 03:18:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14926091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nudebeme/pseuds/Nudebeme
Summary: You ain’t free unless you’ve got nothing left to lose. The Overboss and Porter Gage have built an empire, but they both come to understand that all of Nuka World's greatness is coming to a quick end. It is up to Gage to decide if he will admit their time as kings is ending, or take his dream AND his Overboss to the grave with him. Contains Raiders which also means foul language, bad behavior, and violence. Completed.





	1. Freedom

"This is perfect. Almost looks as good as it did in the postcards." The Overboss said, gleefully holding up a faded image of a forest-side cabin in a postcard. He held it up next to the shambles that remained of it over 200 years later, just a few walls and a crumbling roof dangling between them. 

 

"Yeah-huh. Perfect." Gage repeated him, smiling at the thought of throwing down their travel packs and taking a load off for the night. There was a few cans of cram with his name on it and the air smelled strange, almost good, being this far away from Nuka Town's deathly stench. His Overboss was a real wiz at getting fires going, all he needed was a few pieces of the fallen walls, some dried leaves and a fast bullet to get a nice little blaze started. His Overboss, who refused to give him any name other than "Chac" (Kind of a stupid sounding name, but whatever) had been overly pleasant since they'd gotten away from East Boston. 

 

"Look at you, havin' a good time." Gage sits back, watching his unusual boss dancing in place while he stabbed open some cans of food and ate them on the spot. 

 

" _Owww_ ~  _I feel good! da na na na na na na~"_ Chac sang, gravy dripping under his chin before spitting out what looked like fossilized food into the fire with a sizzle. Gage loved to watch him, he was real funny when he was so full of life like this, it's been a while since he even seen the guy crack a smile. 

 

"You sure you ain't on somethin', boss? Y'been bouncin' off the damn walls for the past hour now." Gage found it hard to keep up with him sometimes, the guy just looked so high on life right now. 

 

"Don't like it, huh?" Chac threw his can into the fire, shrugging off his jacket and using it to form a cushion for where he planned on sitting. 

 

"Nah, It's friggin' great. I like seein' ya happy. Makes me happy." Gage refuted him, in the solitude and dark like this, far away from everyone, he suddenly wanted to be close to him. 

 

"Well look at us, just two happy guys having a little camp-out." Chac squatted next to the fire and took a big swig of water, warming his tattooed hands by the growing blaze.  

 

Gage inched up to him and followed suit, feeling a creaking in his aging knees. He stole the metal bottle from his Overboss and gladly shared the drink with him, loving this moment but feeling unsure of something- why was the guy so happy go lucky all of a sudden? Earlier today as they left Nuka World he was cranky at best, irritable and barely anything to talk to. 

 

"Glad you joined me, Gorgeous." Chac reached out and patted Gage's tan arm, the guy shooting him a testy glance. He hadn't heard that one in a while, either. 

 

"What, done with callin' me PG?" Gage falls back on his ass and gets comfortable next to him. Firelight smoothed out all the weathering of Gage's face, illuminated the lines of age around his eyes and mouth and made him look good. Real good. 

 

"Mmhm, Nothing PG about what I'm thinking, the way you look right now." his Overboss was a real flirt, and Gage actually felt bashful at all this talk; he never did get used to it. The joke flew over his head-

 

"No idea what yer sayin, but I'll take it." Gage relaxed as he listened to his Overboss' pleased humming. He had to ask him though, why?

 

"Really, Boss. What made you so perky all of a sudden?" 

 

"Food Poisoning, maybe." He lies, and Gage just scoffs.

 

"I don't think that's what it is. C'mon, Boss. What are you on right now?"

 

"Ugh,  _i think it is food poisoning_." He repeats himself, holding his stomach. Gage started to get irritated, wondering maybe the guy was huffing Jet when he had his back turned- "Oh god." Chac gurgled, lifting up from his seat and ripping ass so loud it made Gage leap up and crawl away from him-.

 

"Ah fer fuck's sake, Boss! I had my damn mouth open." His partner was getting cranky, and likewise the boss has had enough of the questioning, something Gage had been doing more often lately.

 

"I'm glad that's over." Chac states, sitting back down and wrapping his arms around his knees, closing himself off from any more questions. But still, his partner persisted-

 

"I'm being serious right now. Seems like every time we get the heck away from Nuka World, yer a different guy, boss. Fuck, I can scarcely even look at'cha when we're at the park, like yer gunna fuckin' bite my head off." 

 

"It aint you, Gage. It never is you, and I'm not mad  _now_  so why you gotta keep bringing it up?" His overboss took a hunk of ancient plywood and lugged it onto the fire, cinders skittering to the tips of Gage's shoes.

 

"Cuz it's annoyin' as shit, man! I don't care if it ain't me!" Gage plopped himself down well out of arms reach from Chac, lighting up a stale cigarette and merely holding it, concentrating his blinded gaze on the smoke. "It might as well be me, because I'm the first fuckin' person who gets your rotten attitude. But look at you, out here, bein' all sweet and shit. I don't get you." Gage huffed harshly, taking a drag of his smoke and holding it tight inside his chest. The drug may have been old, but it worked.

 

Chac merely ignored him for the moment, deep in thought. This has been a long time coming, this talk. Gage was no good at it, feelings, but lately he'd been the one needing to bring it up more since shit got too much at Nuka World. The real reason why he was so happy right now? Because he wasn't at Nuka World. 

 

"Fine then, don't answer me." Gage spat on the fire, revolted. He didn't want to look at his Overboss and that deadpan look he got on his face now. Shaking his head in disappointment, the older raider chose to keep quiet.

 

"..." Chac toed a piece of rubble to form a better guard between him and the flame. He watched Gage from across the fire, how he pulled off his armor and his eyepatch, revealing the still-living but blind eye underneath. Thoughts flashed before his mind of a life abandoning Porter, leaving him with Nuka World in the dust. The pain alone that creeped inside him was just enough to get him to talk.

 

"I get that way because running Nuka World is a fucking nightmare, Gage." Chac let it out, and it was true. Porter looked at him in shock, as if he himself wasn't sharing the same amount of stress over it these days. "Every day some new bullshit comes up. The power struggles, the bootlicking, the assassins? It's a fucking miserable shit hole back there, and you know it." 

 

"What are you trying to say, Boss? You don't got the stomach for it anymore?" Gage let the cigarette burn to the filter, crushing it under his heel and immediately lighting a new one. His heart was in his guts right now.

 

"You know what I'm trying to say." Chac starts-

 

"No, I don't. Please, enlighten me." Gage retorts, clearly pissed off. Chac could see the flash of his gold teeth as he worried his lip, something he learned Gage was prone to do when he was stressed.

 

"I'm saying that Nuka World is a fucking prison." 

 

Nothing was said, a painful sort of silence above the crackling wood. 

 

"...But how? I know the Raiders are pissin' you off, but look, boss, you got the entire park running. We're gunna own the commonwealth, and you wanna say it's a friggin'  _prison?"_

"I want my freedom back." Chac states, Gage doing a doubletake-  _freedom?_  How could losing everything be..

 

"How could losing it all be freedom to you?" Gage leans in, something inside him breaking at the idea of his Overboss wanting to leave-

 

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." Chac pushed himself up to stand, crossing his arms defiantly. Gage found himself once again looking up at him, caught in a flurry of confusion. What he said struck Gage deep... _freedom._  Nothing holding him down. 

 

"-And I can't think of myself as  _free_  until I don't have to worry about the next time Mason will threaten to tar and feather me." He thought, adding - "Or Nisha wanting to skin me and wear my body as a man suit. Shit like that, this dread, it's a prison. So if you want to know why I'm  _nice_  when I'm not in Nuka Town, well, there's your answer." 

 

"You can't leave. Fuck em up if you have to, but don't leave. This entire operation runs on you." Gage watched him like a hawk, refusing to stand and face him eye to eye on this.

 

"It's collapsing from the bottom up. It's a pipe dream, Gage. I can leave, but the real question is, can  _you_  leave Nuka World?"

 

He had it. Gage shot up from his seat and got in his overbosses' face, scant inches taller than him "The hell you just say to me? You askin' me to drop everything I've worked for, for the past 4 fuckin' years and just go fuck myself like I ain't poured my whole life into it?" 

 

Chac remained calm, hands at his sides. He knew Gage would be hurt, I mean, why wouldn't he be? 

 

"Yeah. I expect you to. Cuz' you're smart.You aren't willing to die for a lost cause." 

 

Gage reeled back and slugged his Overboss in the face so hard the both of them fell. His Overboss' dreads threatened to light on fire as they scrambled on the ground beside it, Gage climbing on top of Chac and winding up his fist for another haymaker-

 

"Burn in hell!" He screams, his voice harsh with emotions he so often hid. "You fuckin' asshole!" He slugged Chac again, blood on his knuckles and on the gravel below. All the times he hit his boss then, it did nothing to quell the truth that the Nuka World dream was crumbling. He was about to strike Chac again before the roof of their ramshackle hideout began to drop dust on them from above. Gypsum peppered Gage's mohawk and Chac's bloodied face, his Overboss looking up at his partner.

 

"...You can't leave me." Gage repeated himself, panting hard. Chac used that time to throw off the Southerner, scuttling back until as soon as their fight started, it was over. 

 

"I never said anything about leaving  _you._ " Chac panted, wiping blood off his face and onto his jeans "When shit hits the fan, and it will, I expect you to leave with me. With our heads intact." 

 

Gage shook his head, refusing to believe this. Partners for a year...  _more than_  partners, and then this? Gage didn't want whatever life awaited without his overboss. It'd be shit. Everything would go to shit. 

 

"I gotta get the fuck away from you. Don't follow me." Porter says, flatly. He picks up his flashlight and gun, and walks out into the wastes. Chac's eyes followed him until there was nothing but darkness, and chose to sit flush against the wall. If Gage needed space, let him have it. 

 

Gage stomped through the wasted wilderness for what felt like only a few moments. He came to a road overlooking a cliff, and saw Diamond City's dazzling lights far in the distance. Perching his ass on a traffic barrier, he let his anger consume him. What the fuck was he going to do about this? Nuka World wasn't doing good, yeah, He would admit that...but the boss running out on them? Might as well nuke the place. Gage felt betrayed in the worst possible way. 

 

" _Gunna fuckin' kill him."_ He whispers to himself, forgetting his smokes back at camp. What he said resounded in his head. Kill him....That's what Gage promised himself he'd do if the Overboss didn't work out, right? Just fuckin..kill him? Gage looked at the gun in his trembling hands and bit his lip hard. He had to kill him. Chac was the overboss, there wasn't any other that would hold a candle to him. 

 

Furious, heartbroken, Gage knew this is what he had to do. 


	2. End Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gage decides what is the most important thing in his life, and chooses it.

What a shit show. What an absolute honest to god  _shit show_  this turned out to be. That's all that the Overboss could think about on their silent tram ride back to Nuka World, the PA system long since gutted for parts. They both knew something was wrong long before Nuka World even came into view; it was the  _smell_  that got to them first. A smell not worse than death, but real fucking close to it. 

 

"Holy shit." The Overboss spoke up, his first words in hours. "Smells like a mass grave, what  _is that?"_ Chac stood and looked over the horizon, from the mountaintops they could see black smoke billowing from Nuka Town. Gage's heart couldn't have felt worse than it did already, joining his boss and seeing what looked like the fires of hell coming from the inner walls of their empire. 

 

"You gotta be fuckin' kidding me. Did the whole place burn down in the two days we where out?!" Gage looked over to his Overboss for some kind of reaction, but Chac's bitter coldness was telling; His Overboss was merely standing there with arms crossed, his knuckles white. 

 

"Boss, Wh..Say somethin, man! What the fuck are you gunna do about this?!" The magnet tram couldn't move fast enough, Gage panicking on the inside thinking all hell had broken loose.

 

"I don't know." Chac only said, after way too long. 

 

"Oh, Oh, you  _don't know."_ Gage spits, his hands still hurting from bashing his boss' face up the night before "You know what, I really don't think you give a shit. That's what I think." 

 

"..Would you hate me if I said you're right?" Chac said, defeated. The smell was overwhelmingly nauseating, and the closer they drew to it, the more recognizable it became. Burning rubber, the smell of melting tires and cheap plastic. 

 

"Oh, don't worry about that boss. You know I can't hate you any more even if I tried." Gage threatened him, finding himself being as close to fed up with this situation as he can get.

 

"Hm. That sucks." Chac dismissed, wondering if his partner really felt that way. As they came into docking with sooty air clogging their throats, Neither the boss or Gage had any time left to bicker. Before them was a monument of what looked like every bit of carcinogenic rubber that could have been scrapped all settled into a massive pyramid, it had been burning for the entire day, liquid rubber oozing onto the concrete and no one in sight. Well, no one alive, that is.

 

"This is bad." Gage covered his mouth with his shirt "These poor fuckers. Ain't no one but the Disciples coulda done something like this." Gage spoke to himself, his Overboss wrapping a red kerchief around his face and approaching the nearest corpse. Immolated beyond recognition... And it was one of their own, maybe an Operator. Who knows, he's dead now. There where burned crosses dotting the main circle,and  if there were bodies on there at some point, they where long since burned to cinders.

 

"So Nisha is being honest to her word." Chac steps over the body, only to face another one on a charred cross. Such carnage, yet somehow Chac felt a sickening sort of happiness; good. It was coming down, just like he said it was. 

 

"What'd she say to you?" Gage pulled out his gun, unsure.

 

"You'll find out. They built this fire to get my attention. Follow me." 

 

"As if I got any other god damn choice." Gage spat, and held his breath as they made their way towards Fizztop mountain. 

 

...

 

"I can't believe this actually happened." Gage collapsed onto his chair, coughing roughly. He couldn't remember a time he felt more anxious in his life, being stuck between Nisha, the Boss, and Savoy. 

 

"What, you didn't think one of the gang leaders would eventually kill another one? Really, Gage?" Chac slammed the door to the outside of the patio, just to keep the smell out. 

 

"You know this wouldn't be happening if you where tougher on them. Now we got a fuckin' war on our home turf and who knows how the hell we're going to be able to stop it."

 

Chac, his overboss, knows he had little to say to make Gage feel any shred of comfort. Anger welled inside of him, he hated being forced into this position and being blamed for the hubris of others. He pulled a glass off the countertop and poured himself a double of bourbon, inhaling it deeply to rid the smell of death from his memory.

 

"Yeah boss! Drink up, that'll solve aaaaall our problems!" Gage picks up an empty bottle and flings it towards his Overboss, lack of depth perception making him miss by a hair. 

 

"Oh come on, Gage! Daisy got herself murdered because she was a wild animal and had to be put down. Nisha wants to blame William for killing her? Yeah, think again, she got herself euthanized for being a fucking thorn in everyone's side." 

 

"It ain't supposed to play out this way. You get those two gangs back in line before it's US up there on the damn crosses!" 

 

"What the fuck do you want me to do about it, Gage?" Chac yells after gulping down his drink, hissing "Do you not realize that this entire operation you cooked up is missing one important concept? The only thing that all the force and leadership in the world can't control?"

 

"What? WHAT." Gage spits, throwing his hands out in disgust.

 

"Human greed. The most powerful force in this fucked up world."

 

"..." Gage said nothing, narrowing his eye at his boss. 

 

"Thats right. How long did you think this operation would go on before Raiders,  _the scum of the fucking earth,_ decide that they want it ALL and not just some? There's no overboss in the world you can find that'll fix that problem. It's innate, Gage. It's in their blood to destroy everything in their path. I'm surprised someone like you doesn't know that, and you're as scum as they get." 

 

_He has to kill him._  That burning desire inside Porter flared up stronger than ever, he just wanted to do anything to stop his Overboss from saying this shit, no matter how true. There was still a way to fix this, god dammit, and even if it took the unthinkable to stop a war between them, he could still find a way to turn this around. Gage has done this before, he'd backstabbed his bosses in the past many times and this time...he had to do it. Just one more time. But..

 

"You are a  _god. damn. embarrassment_." Gage states, he couldn't look at his stupid face anymore. Turning tail and heading towards the elevator, Gage was about to press the button before instinct told him otherwise- He knew Nisha hated him, more than anyone here. What was stopping her from killing him if he stepped foot outside? Her words from just before echoed in his memory...  _"From here there's no going back."_ Shit. Was this really death looking him in the face right now? he thought about what his Overboss said, this is a pipe dream. Gage switched off the breaker, rendering the elevator useless.

 

He turned around. Gage had to pretend the bastard wasn't in the same room with him, choosing to unload his gear in the small area he once called his own by the workbenches. Cursing to himself, a cigarette now hanging from his lips, the older Raider crams all of his stuff haphazardly into his personal containers. None of this shit seemed really  _worth_  it now, looking at it. It all reminded him of his soon to be ex-Overboss, the wild adventures they shared. The door slammed from across the room and Gage let out a shuddered breath to know that Chac was out of his sight. How was he gonna do this? His good eye passed over all of the loot that had been filling up their headquarters, every object held memories that Porter now vividly recalled. 

 

The Thirst Zapper lay on a far table, he approached it and simply stared. It was empty now, but he could recall all the times his Boss would get him with it, a shot of water right at the back of the head. If he had the heart to smile he would have, thinking of when Chac wrestled him to the ground and stepped on him, squirting water on his crotch until it looked like he pissed himself. Gage got him good for that one, he remembered, slapped that shit so hard his handprint was on his face for half a week. All the playful memories that stemmed from a single little plastic toy just hurt now.

 

No. Gage huffed and grabbed the squirtgun, and tossed it under the couch just out of his sight. If he was gunna...do this.. he couldn't have some sappy shit like that making him think twice. But he couldn't escape it; everywhere he looked there was a memory. The still-functioning record player where his Overboss showed him all the old dance crazes from his time. The massive spools of tickets from all their time in the arcade, cheating. Gage's throat closed up and he ran towards the bathroom and slammed the door, sitting in absolute silence on the sink. He felt like he would die if he stayed in there any longer, but he also knew his death was waiting for him just outside the elevator doors. Trapped, Gage chose to hide in the bathroom with only the light of his cigarette to keep him company.

 

It felt like hours had gone by. The Overboss hadn't come in to check on Gage once, and honestly, why would he? Isn't what they had technically over? Gage pushed himself up to stand after fighting his urge to dissociate there forever, feeling his knees creak. He held his breath as he stepped out, it was dark. He could hear his pulse in his ears as he scoped the inside of the grill, his steps finding himself drawn towards the outside where he knew Chac would be. 

 

He opened the door, and lo and behold there he was, standing at the lift and looking out onto their crumbling kingdom. The small firepit  illuminated his back and only the fiercest planes of his face as Chac turned around to make eye contact with his partner. 

 

"Wind changed directions, its taking the smoke out to the commonwealth now." He states, as calmly as one would the weather. "You hungry, or something?" He asks, Gage feeling himself clam up at his sincerity. 

 

"Nah." He answered, receiving only a little nod from his boss. "What are you doing?"

 

"Come here, and watch." Chac calls him over, and the Raider hesitantly follows his order. They hadn't seen it before, but Gage's mouth dropped when he saw what happened just below. In the water there float a dozen, maybe more, freshly dead bodies, Operators and Disciples alike. Several members of the Pack seemed like they where fishing, casting out novelty fishing poles and reeling a corpse in by it's ankle and laughing joyfully. Around the pond there was an immeasurable amount of filth, moreso than ever before. From a far corner of the map they could hear the sound of hammers driving into nails, screaming. Raiders where being crucified by their own as they stood and watched...Gage felt sick to his stomach. 

 

"What are you thinking right now?" Chac asked, breaking the silence between them with a grim question. Gage didn't answer him, it hurt Chac inside to see his partner look so disheartened. He  _knew_  Gage wasn't stupid, that he was just refusing to believe the end was near to try and turn his overboss around to stay. But here they where.. watching it happen. 

 

Gage walked away from him, Chac's eyes on his secret lover as he walked, head down, towards the brambles of thick dead branches that lay on the far side of the patio. Gage's first love was perched way on the top branch, big fat claws dangling as it slept. The older man reached out and tapped his hand on the branch, his massive pet iguana nodding awake and crawling excitedly into his arms and across his shoulders, claws raking his bare skin  to join the endless amount of tiny white scars already present. 

 

"There's my baby girl." Chac could hear Gage mumbling, a sweet sort of baby talk no one could have expected from a Raider. "I know you missed yer daddy. You eat all your food, Lulu baby? Ya aint touched your molerat. I know, I don't like it either." 

 

_'It's a boy, you know.'_ Chac always would correct him, but he only sighed, watching his partner baby the dog-sized lizard that looked strangely like him. Gage sat by himself and shared his body heat with his pet, staring distantly and stroking the long frills on his neck. Porter only wanted a few moments of comfort, any sort of distraction to take his mind off of what he was ultimately set on doing tonight. The sun had already set, cool air was billowing in through the broken glass and sending a chill up the Overboss' spine. 

 

"I'm gunna eat something and turn in for the night." Chac called over, watching the back of Gage's head, Lulubelle's face peeking at him from over his shoulder. His silence was expected- "You're welcome to stay in bed with me tonight, if you can even stand looking at me." 

 

"..." Gage's heart sunk. "Don't expect any company." he blurts out, and held his breath as he could hear Chac exit and slam the door. Minutes felt like only seconds alone with his thoughts, Chac reemerging from inside and going to lay on the bed Colter once owned. 

 

"Goodnight, Babe." Chac called over, his final act of aggression on Gage. How dare he, the older man thought, how dare you say something like that after spitting in the face of everything we built. With one utterance of that word it was the only thing that could have made Gage change his mind, when moments before he was wondering which type of bullet to plant in his skull. Now they became floundering thoughts of every moment he could possibly live in the future without him.

 

As if in a trance, Gage put his pet back on the branch, not forgetting to pet him as he absently made his way back inside. It was his hatred of Chac that drew him towards his collection of guns, a single eye scanning for what would be his best choice. Shaking hands reached out and felt the metal edges of his silenced pistol, checking the clip...9 millimeters, 4 bullets. He felt sick at the idea of such a small piece of metal being the thing to take down such an unstoppable man. But it would do, right? He killed Colter with a water gun, Gage assumed that he simply was a cheapskate when it came to stabbing his friends in the back. 

 

Gage sat down at his old bed, small plumes of dust rising from months of vacancy. His throat burned as he studied every inch of his weapon, aiming it out and holding it to the braincase of a skull that decorated his bedside. An easy, clean shot right in the temple; something he'd done too many times to count. He could see the barrel of his gun shaking like mad at the idea of his Overboss' brains spattering the bed they shared. But he needed to do this.

 

He waited, utterly devoid of feeling as the minutes ticked by to a full hour. Chac always slept so soundly, he should have no trouble... Gage stood, purpose powering each step out the door. The gun was hidden behind his back, each step up the rickety stairs that led to the foot of the bed was as loud as gunfire in his mind.. 

 

There he lay. He did really look helpless when he was asleep, something Gage always thought was..well, He didn't know how to put it. Precious? Gage bit his lip, eyes locked on his boss' face. 

 

"Fuckin scumbag" he mouthed, silently. Gage felt like the man had manipulated him this entire time, filled his head with all kinds of ideas, his heart with.. No. Gage sat down quietly on the safe next to his sleeping boss, observing his rising chest, the gentle part of his lips. The feeling that consumed Gage just then was something he'd never felt before, all encompassing sorrow, a crippling panic that soaked into his very bones and made them weak. 

_"Make it back to Nuka World soon, boss. It needs you, and well, I need you."_

_"I'd follow you to the ends of the earth, if you asked me."_

_"Don't make me say it. You know how I feel about you."_

All his own words, now all echoing inside his head. Sure he was angry, heartbroken..but tomorrow how would he feel? To not have this crazy man in his life? Gage extended his hand and held the barrel of the gun to Chac's temple. His fingers where numb, his lips cold, Oh my fucking god this kind of feeling was completely new and terrifying. He tried to think of how angry he was and..

 

It didn't work. Gage's finger lifted off the trigger, and he placed the gun silently on the ground. His insides roiled as he desperately wrapped his head tightly inside his arms, rocking back and forth as he tried to fight it off. He thought about what Chac said, about Freedom. All it really is, is nothing left to lose. Porter bit back the urge to vomit his guts out at the idea of losing him; that wasn't freedom. That was hell. His stomach audibly lurched, the man doubling over in his seat and tugging at his curly hair.It hurt so bad; In a panic to make it stop, he picked up the gun and cocked it, the cold metal briefly touching Chac's temple. Try again.

 

Just do it.  _Do it._  

 

A soft noise passed from Chac's parted lips. It was such a beautiful sound. Gage panicked and stood, racing to the balcony overlooking the lake- he cried out as he flung his gun with all of his might into the distance. He lost sight of it until with a quiet  _pop!_ The gun discharged the bullet meant for Chac clean into the air, a small flash of light finalizing it all. Gage steadied himself on the wooden planks, gasping hard for air; he looked behind him and saw the man he loved resting undisturbed.

 

Shit, what was he thinking? Gage threw himself up the stairs and to Chac's bedside, taking the man's face into his shaking hands. Porter leaned down and planted a kiss on his forehead, followed by frantic kisses that peppered his Bosses' entire face, ending at his lips. The man stirred, but only for a moment, the smell of his liquor dinner thick on his breath.

 

"I'm sorry," Gage croaked, his weathered hands resting on Chac's chest as he stared him down. He wanted to cry like a fucking pussy, his chest making each breath a trembling mess. He'd never felt anything like this in his entire life.. by far. Heh, just another to add to the list of new experiences this crazy son of a bitch brought into his life. 

 

Crawling away from the bed, Gage stumbles past the balcony, overlooking the park illuminated for the shit hole it is. Porter looked over it all, and visions came into his mind of Nuka World ablaze, their bodies wasting away on the cross. He understood now what the Overboss meant, the dream is dead...it was doomed from the start. Gage shuddered, catching his breath just long enough to make it back inside to the silence of his old room. All of the possessions they'd accumulated meant nothing to him now, just stupid little  _things_  that where nothing more than weights keeping him down. He didn't give them more than a moment's thought before he made it to the kitchen to give himself a hefty shot of Chac's favorite poison. He hated the taste, it burned all the way down but it gave him what he needed; something to kill off the sobs that wanted to break free from his throat.

 

There was no way he could sleep alone. Gage needed to see him, just to be near the bastard, and he couldn't make it to the bed quick enough. He threw off his battered shirt, climbing in and muscling himself up with everything he was right against his boss. He draped a cool arm over his Boss' chest, burying his flat nose hard into Chac's neck and taking a deep breath of his musky smell. 

 

"Mmhh?" His boss moaned, eyes peeking open and surprised to see Gage glued so tightly to him. "Hey, cowboy." Chac's fingers loop around Gage's shoulder and pull him in, half-awake and unaware of the danger he'd been in. 

 

"...Hey, boss." Gage whispers. "I'm real sorry." For more than you can ever imagine.

 

"S'arright. We Figure it out tomorrow."

 

Gage was overjoyed then, even without Nuka World, no matter where they end up, at least they'd have a tomorrow.

 

"...Yeah. Tomorrow." 


End file.
